Tag Archives:

Israel

A poll by the Israeli Democracy Institute shows that 2 out of 3 Jewish Israelis support the death sentence for Palestinian attackers, considered “terrorists,” even if they attack armed occupation soldiers. Israel has not officially used the death penalty since Adolf Eichmann was executed in 1962. Jonathan Ofir writes, “The potential enactment of the death penalty, especially in the case of Palestinian attackers, would be a grave matter, in view of the Israeli definitions of ‘terror’.”

When alternative Memorial Day ceremonies in Israel joining both Israelis and Palestinians were assaulted by angry mobs the government stayed silent. And when Education Minister Naftali Bennett finally commented, it was no better.

“We will soon be the majority!” says a huge billboard in the heart of Tel-Aviv. Written in Arabic and showing Palestinians with Palestinian flags it is meant to frighten Jewish Israelis into supporting a two-state solution. The Israeli press is reporting that many Israelis “erroneously thought this to be a hostile takeover of the media by Palestinian terror organizations,” but the campaign is actually the work of a ‘liberal’ organization from the center of Israeli politics.

A Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor analysis of UN data show that a recent surge in reports of deportations of individuals attempting to transit through Israel to work with Palestinians is apparently the result of an official strategy implemented by the Israeli government beginning in January of this year.

The Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees writes to New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declaring its support for BDS and asking to be included in the list of boycott-supporting organizations the state of New York will be creating following the governor’s executive order.

The Israeli occupation is the chief structural barrier to quality healthcare for Palestinians—it has exacerbated existing inequities in the population and has given rise to a host of issues unique to this devastating political reality. The structural aspects of the occupation —political, economic, and social— collectively mitigate access to quality health care for Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and Jerusalem. Healthcare is not just measured in mortality statistics or disease prevalence. National health systems are highly influenced by the political climate surrounding them, and as Norwegian physician and activist Mads Gilbert puts it, “Medicine and politics are Siamese twins.”

One of the more remarkable yet less remarked upon moments of the recent Israeli massacre in Gaza came when the Qassam Brigades gave a press conference on 17 November. They had a message for the Israeli public: “It was your leadership,” they said, “that dragged you into this and into the shelters to score cheap political points.” What’s truly stunning is that the Qassam Brigades were making an open anti-government appeal to the people of Israel.

With the news that the UN General Assembly has voted 138-9 to accept Palestine as a “non-member observer state,” fireworks erupted and horns honked in Gaza. Finally, Palestinians were feeling as if they were having their day in the sun.

As Israel continues to pound the Gaza Strip, and factions within the beleaguered territory retaliate as best they can, there are many myths and stereotypes dominating mainstream media coverage, and many conversations. Here are a few of the most common misunderstandings.

While Israel — cheered on by its American boosters led by AIPAC and Mitt Romney — beats the drums for a war against Iran, President Obama in late July signed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act — hardly a signal that Obama wants to defuse the explosive situation. The Rose Garden signing, attended by […]

The pain of Cast Lead is still festering, just beneath the surface in Gaza. It is evident in the estimated 6,500 amputees you see almost everywhere — some begging, others going about their everyday lives. One of the lasting stories of Cast Lead that haunts me the most is the fate of 11-year-old Amal al-Samouni.

Italian construction firm Pizzarotti is stupefied, bewildered, stunned. In an article on today’s Corriere della Sera, Italy’s top newspaper, covering Deutsche Bahn’s withdrawal from the Israeli project for a high-speed train line that cuts through the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Michele Pizzarotti said “We are astonished to find ourselves involved in these protests.” Pizzarotti, through a […]

I have a confession. I love the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs website. I can, and often do, read it for hours. It is a treasure trove, home to some of the best propaganda on the planet. The MFA website is also home to the three sacred words. Words, which when uttered correctly, underpin decades […]

Irrelevant Quartet diplomat Tony Blair says: Israel needs to ‘accelerate and deepen’ measures to build Palestinian confidence that a state is in the offing… …While all the while, Israel continues to accelerate and deepen measures to steal Palestinian land and build illegal colonies. Tony, can you do us all a favor? If you don’t have […]

The following is an adapted excerpt of the Editors’ Note from The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict. The book will be available on January 11, and you can pre-order it here. Reports come and go. This is one of the tragic truths of the literature of human rights […]